Social Studies/President Sites

Abraham Linclon for Primary Children
http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/proj/lincoln/index.html
Every year Mrs. Payton's first grade class (from Loogootee, Indiana) visits Abraham Lincoln's Boyhood National Memorial. Join them for a virtual tour of Abe's childhood log cabin by visiting the Picture Gallery. Afterwards you'll be ready for the Quiz ("Where was Abe Lincoln born?") and Online Treasure Hunt ("What is the name of the church Abraham Lincoln attended in Springfield, Illinois?") Looking for Lincoln lesson plans for your class? Try the Classroom Activities.

Abraham Lincoln Online
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln.html
David Davis, an Illinois judge and close friend of the Lincoln family, said this about Honest Abe: "From the humblest poverty, without education, or the means of attaining it; unaided by wealth or influential family connections, he rose, solely, by the strength of his intellect and the force of his character, to the highest position in the world." This five-star site is a compendium of Lincoln letters, speeches, virtual tours, news items, art gallery and links to hundreds of Lincoln resources.

American Experience: Reagan
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reagan/
Ronald Reagan died in June of 2004. In 1998, ten years after Reagan left office, PBS created a television movie and this companion Website. Sections include the Timeline and Photo Gallery. Visit Special Features for a virtual tour of the Reagan library, excerpts from two Reagan biographies, and a collection of quotes. Visit People & Events for articles on five people who touched Reagan's life and three challenges from his presidency.

American Presidency
http://americanhistory.si.edu/presidency/
The American Presidency is a site for understanding everything about the President of the United States. The site contains interactive activities on five subjects, including the roles of the presidency. The resource section of the site contains a complete set of presidential resources, ranging from a list of presidents to a description of the military history of the various presidents. The upper menu bar of the site contains a scrollable presidential "lineup" associated with interesting artifacts and historical developments of the presidential period. Clicking on either the president or artifact links to a descriptive resource supported by interesting graphics.

American President: An Online Reference Resource
http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident
This site is a non-partisan resource on the history and function of the American presidency published by the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs. You'll find great infomation for school reports on any particular president. Click on the Multimedia Gallery for tons of pictures from each administration.

American President: John F. Kennedy
http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/kennedy
John F. Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917. This site was built as a companion to the PBS American President series, and has quite an extensive Kennedy section. Start with Fast Facts and then get more depth by visiting the sixteen additional chapters. Noteworthy ones include First Lady, American Franchise, In His Own Words, Gallery, and Web Resources.

AmericanPresident.org
http://www.americanpresident.org/  
When the site opens, you are presented with 2 pathways: History or Presidency in Action. The History section includes information on the Presidents themselves; biographies of each first lady; biographies of each cabinet member; listings of presidential staff and advisers; and timelines detailing significant events in the lives of each administration. Presidency in Action features the functional side of the American presidency, outlining the responsibilities of the President and the resources at his disposal. Includes essays; a graphically rich Organization Chart; and details about the offices the President relies on and the personnel inhabiting them. Biographies of leading staffers and advisers add further depth to this portrait of the White House at work. Brought to you by the Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia.

American Presidents: Thomas Jefferson
http://www.history.com/genericContent.do?id=53565
Thomas Jefferson's birthday is April 13th. History.com's Thomas Jefferson exhibit is part of their American Presidents series. Highlights include an eight-part biography (from Early Life to Notable Staff), a timeline, an image gallery, and transcripts of his two inaugural speeches. Be sure to check out the Video Gallery and Quiz.

Barack Obama's Inaugural Schedule
http://www.pic2009.org/pages/schedule/
The Presidential Inaugural Committee has outlined a preliminary schedule of official inaugural events that underscores our commitment to holding an inaugural that is open, accessible, and brings us all together in a spirit of unity.

By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/odmdhtml/preshome.html

Geek the Vote 2008
http://www.popularmechanics.com/geekthevote08
The 2008 Presidential election process has grabbed everyone's attention—even a techie type magazine like Popular Mechanics. Despite its inappropriate name, the site attempts to cover where each candidate stands (or stood, since many have already left the race) on issues of interest with a focus on science and technology. It could serve as a research tool for students preparing reports on the candidates. The site also offers related election news as well.

George and Martha Washington, Portraits from the Presidential Years
http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/gw/
George and Martha Washington sat for almost two dozen portraits in the eight years between 1789 and 1797. This site, the online version of a 1999 exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery, shows each painting. Clicking on the thumbnail brings up an enlarged image and expanded text for each.

George Washington: A National Treasure
http://www.georgewashington.si.edu/
This site from the National Portrait Gallery invites you to explore the Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington known as the Lansdowne portrait. There is a wonderful interactive activity that allows the student to click on specific points of artistic, biographic, and symbolic significance. Each point of information gives the student a cross curricular experience in Art and U.S. History. There is also a fascinating audio explanation of the portrait's history that will be interesting to the students.

History Place: Abraham Lincoln
http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/
A timeline of Lincoln's life including photos and links to important events.

History Place: John F. Kennedy Photo History
http://www.historyplace.com/kennedy/
This annotated photo gallery of Kennedy's life is divided into four sections: Early Years, War Hero, Politician, and President. As you progress through the gallery, click on the thumbnail photos for a larger view. The War Hero section tells the tale of how Jack entered politics, starting in 1939 London, where his father was serving as United States Ambassador to England. The History Place grants permission to use these photos in offline school reports.

Inaugural
http://inaugural.senate.gov/history/factsandfirsts/index.cfm
This site has tons of information about the Inauguration. This page on Facts & Firsts gives an interesting look at information about Inuagurations beginning with George Washington. There is also an educational video called "So Help Me God," which gives an historical look at the Inaugural Ceremonies from 1789-2005.

Inside the White House
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/96/whitehouse/whhome.html
"First day on the job! You got the nomination, you campaigned, you won. Then you took the oath of office, made the first speech of your administration, and danced the night away. But now it's morning in America -- time to face the Oval Office. It's YOUR chance to be President of the United States. Let's see how you do." Click on the Oval Office button. Other fun clicks include silly things White House children have done (go to Kids) or the clickable map of the White House neighborhood (choose Mapping.) Teachers will like the grade-level classroom activities found under Learn More.

Lincoln North: The Joseph N. Nathanson Collection of Lincolniana
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/lincoln/intro/cover1a.html
From Canada's McGill University (hence the name "Lincoln North") comes an attempt at creating a virtual exhibit offering collections of manuscripts on Lincoln, the Man; the Civil War; Slavery & Emancipation; Assassination & Death; Trial & Execution of the Assassins; and the Canadian Connections. This site is useful for older students seriously interested in Abraham Lincoln and his life.

Mount Vernon Educational Resources
http://www.mountvernon.org/index.cfm
Among other things, take a Virtual Tour of Mount Vernon.

Mr. Lincoln and Friends
http://www.mrlincolnandfriends.org/
From The Lincoln Institute comes another very detailed Website intended to reveal the human side of the stern-visaged Mr. Lincoln. This site showcases the various people surrounding President Lincoln, from Generals to politicians to reporters and to the females he counted as friends. In addition, there are links to segments on "Opponents and Enemies," "Humor and Personality," etc. This very thorough site does require the ability to handle a lot of written material.

National First Ladies' Library
http://www.firstladies.org/

POTUS: Presidents of the United States
http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/
This site presents a resource which includes concise background information, election results, cabinet members, presidency highlights, and some odd facts on each of the presidents. Links to biographies, historical documents, audio and video files, and other presidential sites are also included. The new site is a merger of Internet Public Library (IPL) and the Librarians' Internet Index (LII) websites. There is also an "On this day, in POTUS history" feature.

Power Pitch: Baseball and the Presidency
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/wdc/firstpitch/
Launch an audio slideshow of captioned photographs that depict the relationship between America's national pastime and its national leader. See historical photographs of U.S. presidents throwing out first pitches at World Series games, at season openers, and on similar occasions.

Presidential Inaugurations: Historical Insights
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/pihtml/pivid00.html
Marvin Kranz, historical specialist in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, reviews nine inaugurations from George Washington's in 1789 to Theodore Roosevelt's in 1905.

Presidential Speech Archive
http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/spe_1797_0304_adams
"The Scripps Library, through cooperation with various presidential libraries, has been collecting some of the more important presidential speeches of the past 60 years. These speeches are available in their entirety in full audio. When possible, we have also provided transcripts of the speeches. Recently we have expanded our collection to include the full text of some of the more important presidential speeches from the 18th and 19th centuries."

Presidential Timeline of the Twentieth Century
http://www.presidentialtimeline.org/
Who was U.S. president before Truman? Who followed him? If you often have trouble recalling facts such as these, bookmark this site, which offers not only a timeline of every 20th Century president (having assumed office on January 20, 2001, President Bush is the first 21st Century president) but also has exhibits and other searchable data on each of the 12 men who led this country in the past century.

President's Day
http://fun.familyeducation.com/presidents-day/entertainment/32937.html
Learn about public affairs with the quizzes, games, and activities featured on this page. There are also links to Presidential Trivia and a Presidential Gallery.

Presidents' Day
http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/score_lessons/special_events/presidents_day/index.html
For classroom use on Presidents' Day (or any time), Schools of California Online Resources for Education (SCORE) presents a site that is dedicated to the achievements of President George Washington and President Abraham Lincoln. Includes links to Presidents' Day activities and information, plus resources for each president and a list of literature relating to each.

President's Day Quiz
http://a4esl.org/q/h/tf-lb-pday.html
Take an online true/false quiz about President's Day. Click the answer button to see the correct answer.

Presidents in Waiting
http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/VicePres/
From the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, this is an exhibition of portraits of fourteen vice presidents who later became president. It tells the stories of their careers in pictures and words, and includes videos of taped interviews with four former vice presidents.

Print & Use Tools: Inauguration Day Worksheets
http://www.schoolfamily.com/print-and-use-tools/category/94-inauguration-day-worksheets
Celebrate the Inauguration with various activities and worksheets, including coloring pages, color by numbers, connect the dots, writing prompts, acrostics, and more.

Rendezvous with History: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/projects/fdr/  
This website includes an interactive SiteMap of the Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site which allows you to "tour the grounds" and the mansion. There are also 360 degree panoramic tours, Stories, Photographs, and a Timeline. A great resource from the Poughkeepsie Journal.

Thomas Jefferson
http://www.history.com/topics/thomas-jefferson
Thomas Jefferson's birthday is in April. Visit this site from History.com for videos, pictures, and facts about our third president.

Thomas Jefferson
http://www.pbs.org/jefferson/
At this Public Broadcasting System site users may explore Jefferson's Spirit of Enlightenment thinking, follow journeys of photographers as they seek the meaning of "Pursuit of happiness," and explore Jefferson's most important and controversial writings.

Thomas Jefferson's Library
http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/jeffersonslibrary/Pages/default.aspx
The Library of Congress showcases the holdings of Thomas Jefferson's personal library built around the themes of memory, reason, and imagination.

Ulysses S. Grant Homepage
http://www.mscomm.com/~ulysses/
Learn more about General Ulysses S. Grant, a military figure during the Civil War, as well as the 18th President of the U.S. This is one of the largest American Civil War websites on the Internet.

U.S. Presidential Election Maps
http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/elections/maps/
Check out the Presidential Election maps with this site. You can see the percentage of popular vote and electoral vote distribution and totals. View the information on popular vote on a map so you can see in which states the president was more popular. It is color coded by presidential candidate. For Electoral Vote Distribution and Totals, the information is also shown on a map and is color coded for ease of information.

White House: George Washington
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/georgewashington/
Read a biography of our first president, George Washington. Click on a president's name in the list to read biographies of all 44 presidents, including President Barack Obama.

White House Historical Association
http://www.whitehousehistory.org/04/04.html
The Classroom section of the White House Historical Association has a wealth of information and resources for teaching about the White House. There are links to resources for K-3, 4-8, and 9-12. Other sections include Art in the White House, Picturing the President's House, and a fun video for younger kids called For Kids: Bird Watching Expedition, among others.

With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition
http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/lincoln/Pages/Default.aspx
Through a vast collection of articles, photographs, etc. the Library of Congress is offering an exhaustive exhibition in honor of the bicentennial celebration of President Abraham Lincoln.